A blog of thoughts, inspiration, discussion from a student of Christian Science

Thursday, August 09, 2007

If something is real, its opposite is not. Pick one.

Truth is immortal; error is mortal. Truth is limitless; error is limited. Truth is intelligent; error is non-intelligent. Moreover, Truth is real, and error is unreal. This last statement contains the point you will most reluctantly admit, although first and last it is the most important to understand. (Science and Health)

Class instruction solidified a point in Christian Science that had always made sense to me: that if something is real, its opposite is not. Real and unreal are opposites, so the unreal cannot exist where the real occupies the ground. But the unreal by definition doesn't exist anywhere—it's unreal. If a thing exists, it must be real, and its opposite is nowhere. Anything real, therefore, must fill all space. There is no space where the unreal exists, is there? If it's unreal, it doesn't exist, so where is it going to be located? So this means that if it's real, it fills all space, and nothing else can exist besides it.

This is only possible for spiritual things, of course, because material things occupy three dimensions and are limited by definition. Material things don't—can't—fill all space. So it's only spiritual things that can fill all space fully and simultaneously. They're not material, so they don't bump into each other.

Mary Baker Eddy gets at this point that you can't fill all space unless you're spiritual in this passage (bolding added by me):

God is individual, incorporeal. He is divine Principle, Love, the universal cause, the only creator, and there is no other self-existence. He is all-inclusive, and is reflected by all that is real and eternal and by nothing else. He fills all space, andit is impossible to conceive of such omnipresence and individuality except as infinite Spirit or Mind. Hence all is Spirit and spiritual. (Science and Health)

So you can't fill all space unless you're Spirit. But then once you are Spirit, you do fill all space, so there can be nothing outside of Spirit. Matter, therefore, as something outside of Spirit, doesn't exist.

I'll never forget the a-ha of that moment when I really took in the logic of that scenario. I then instantly began to apply it to concepts I was sure were real.

Spirit. If Spirit is real, matter is not.

Love. If Love is real, hate is not.

Life. If Life is real, death is not.

Intelligence. If intelligence is real, stupidity is not.

Good. If good is real, evil or bad is not.

Good = Spirit = real. Evil = matter = unreal. Pick one.

Here's what MBE has to say about that:

If sin, sickness, and death were understood as nothingness, they would disappear. As vapor melts before the sun, so evil would vanish before the reality of good. One must hide the other. How important, then, to choose good as the reality! (Science and Health)

I just dig these ideas.

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2 Comments:

I sometimes wonder how Mrs. Eddy concluded Spirit to be omnipresent, yet not be in It’s reflection. Have I missed a turn somewhere in her logic? I would think all reflection to be the animation of Spirit.